Johnathon Gilbert Death, Obituary – Johnathon C. Gilbert, who was 24 years old, was killed when the vehicle he was driving when he was being pursued by police at high speeds early on Monday morning crashed. The pursuit was taking place at high speeds. Deputy Chief Josh Webb stated in a press release that at approximately 12:25 in the morning on Monday, a Danville police officer was driving eastbound on Main Street when he observed a black Mercedes sedan traveling westbound driving erratically.
At a high rate of speed in the area of Main Street and Fairweight Avenue. The incident occurred in the vicinity of Main Street and Fairweight Avenue, the release stated. The occurrence took place in the vicinity of the intersection of Main Street and Fairweight Avenue. The officer performed a U-turn with his patrol car in an attempt to start a traffic stop with the person who was operating the Mercedes.
During the time that the officer was performing a U-turn, a Mercedes that was driving southbound on Griffin Street abruptly turned northbound onto Griffin Street and collided with the front porch of a house that was located in the 300 block of North Griffin Street. The officer was not injured in the collision. The police officer wanted to make contact with the person operating the Mercedes, so he pulled up alongside it, got out of his squad car, and approached the driver on foot.
The officer was unable to make contact with the driver of the Mercedes because the vehicle was already in the process of backing out of the driveway and the driver was already in the process of driving through the front yard, turning back onto Griffin Street, and then turning westbound onto Seminary Street. Everything took place before the officer was able to communicate with the driver of the vehicle.
According to Webb, the officer got back into his police car and tried to catch up to the Mercedes as it raced down Seminary Street in the direction of Bowman Avenue at a high rate of speed. He stated that the officer was following the vehicle for several blocks when he saw the driver proceed through the intersection despite the fact that there was a red light at the intersection of Seminary Street and Bowman Avenue.
He said that the officer had been following the vehicle for several blocks. According to Webb, the officer was following the vehicle for many blocks when he noticed that the driver did not stop at the red light at the intersection of Seminary Street and Bowman Avenue.